#also when the one speechbubble he says gets weird it is because he is using a magic power and forcing rex to put his cigarette out. rex is

[oozeandgoo-art]

[losyash]

SHIMON ARC: Hibari to Tsuna

Recently I've been liveblogging my Shimon arc reread to my friends.

On chapter 323 one of them said they always wondered if the headband being there meant something. And yes, curtains might be blue because it's a nice color. But no. No, curtains being blue is incredibly goddamn important.

HEAR ME OUT

First, to recap what is happening: Shimon arc, pre Adelheid vs Hibari battle they briefly argue about Tsuna and Enma and decide on their pride and the rules of the battle: to seize each other's handband. Adelheid creates an ice prison that is impossible to penetrate from outside and 500 ice clones to fight Hibari. He fights them all, tells Adelheid she is wrong about Enma and small animals (which i will talk about later) and uses minirolls to crush the ice fort from the inside. After this he gets her handband, they talk about Tsuna again and Hibari drops his "it is because of the sky the cloud can float freely" thing.

Before I delve into it, however, I feel like I should take a quick dive in Tsuna-Hibari relationship from Hibari's perspective.

To put it simply, at first Hibari does not give a single fuck about Tsuna personally. Even after this glorious scene happens

All Hibari thinks about that day is that he wants to meet Reborn again. During the course of Daily life arc however Hibari messes with him plenty. Ny the time 43rd chapter (sakura viewing) rolls around, Hibari's opinion on Tsuna is summarized by this:

And this is actually the key. Hibari does not understand Tsuna. To him Tsuna is some weird ass alien creature who does not fit his rigid worldview. At first Hibari tries to make him make sense again by asserting himself over Tsuna and putting him back to the role of herbivore which he does follow every time except when he doesn't?? For some reason?????

Kokuyo arc is the arc that changed the manga tone in general but it's also the arc that changed Hibari himself. He is brutally shown that he as he is does not have the power to do whatever he wants. Something has to change. And Hibari seeks that change in Tsuna, who somehow managed to defeat Mukuro when Hibari himself failed.

chapter 123, cloud battle aftermath

He stops trying to still Tsuna. Instead he wants now to understand what the fuck is up about him and what can he do. The answer is Tsuna can burn a man alive in a fit of rage btw.

BUT THE THING IS. THE THING IS EVENTUALLY HE DOES UNDERSTAND TSUNA. AND THIS LEADS US TO TAKE A LIL BREAK FOR THE PRIDE TALK

Now, the obvious thing: headband symbolizes Hibari's pride.

Here is what he says, when first asked about it:

But also Hibari vs Adelheid battle is the one that finally clears up what the hell does "pride" mean.

The thing is. What Hibari is saying (and what he tried to make Tsuna understand, because the whole battle here his two goals are to win (duh) and to help Tsuna find his conviction again) is that the actual meaning of "What is your pride?" is "What makes you yourself?". You, as a person, should be proud of who you are. And he tells Tsuna, that it is whatever he cannot give up, whatever makes the very core of Tsuna's self is what he should fight for (And then Tsuna tells Enma "You are my pride" which is very juicy but deserves its own post).

Okay, now with this out of the way, let's get to the next thing:

Hibari vs Adelheid (but not the violent edition)

Hibari and Adelheid are not only fighting, they are also talking to each other. And by talking I mean arguing. About Tsuna and Enma and little animals.

Here is important thing to note first: asking around some people who know some people who know japanese gave me information that actually "small animal" is. Not different from herbivore at all. They are apparently used intechangingly based on how much space speechbubble has.

This does affect things: when it is usually thought that Tsuna in Hibari's eyes carves a new category for himself, not worth calling by name nor insulting nickname, nor he can be classified as a simple herbivore, he is just his own thing. Instead it seems like Tsuna changed Hibari's opinion on entire population of herbivores-small animals. (and if those people just got me confused ill die of shame (;-;)b)

ANYWAY, THEIR DEBATE

yes i had to put it all here. it's good. read it.

Do you see it guys? Do you see how far he came from daily life? He now really does understand Tsuna. He cracked the code. And he does now acknowledge that yeah Tsuna (and by extention other ppl like him. Like Enma) has his own way to live life and it does work for him. Tsuna is not weak. Being a herbivore does not automatically mean being weak.

Another interesting thing here is this:

"Why is a man like you with the likes of Sawada Tsunayoshi?"

"I'm not with him"

And I think it's important to remember here that Adelheid does see Tsuna=Vongola boss thing. To Tsuna it's Him and His Friends against Enma and His Friends. To her? It's Vongola vs Shimon

And when she talks to Hibari about Tsuna, she is saying "Why are you with Sawada Tsunayoshi?" but what she means is "Why are you with Vongola?" and this difference does impact Hibari's answer. Case in point:

I DON'T LIKE THE WAY YOU SAID THAT... WELL... TRUE ENOUGH.

BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CLOUD GUARDIAN OF THE VONGOLA'S SKY? ACCORDING TO WIKI, THIS:

A drifting Cloud, whom cannot be bound. Protecting the famiglia from an independent standpoint.

AND SO

I am sorry, I am very normal about this, promise.

And so Hibari basically admits that he will not be bound to Tsuna, but he will be around, involving himself when he feels like it. They're friends your honor.

BUT THERE IS MORE.

The attribute of the cloud flames is propagation. Why is it relevant?

this is the hype up text at the end of chapter 322.

and this is the last page of chapter 323.

Remember i briefly mentioned Hibari stagnating in daily life arc and realizing that there must be something more during Kokuyo arc? He found it. Tsuna is the one who gave him this opportunity. Just being around Tsuna allowed Hibari to grow. To propaga- Okay, that does sound silly. But I think the point still stands. Tsuna gave Hibari space to grow, and frankly, Hibari is grateful for that.

now we are entering the deranged territory

Hibari watched Tsuna grow all during the course of the manga and at some point Tsuna DID outgrow him. Not psychologically, but powerwise? Def. And Hibari cannot be not aware of that.

You might ask, how is he okay with that, but the thing is, Hibari is actually very chill with not being the strongest person in the room. What he actually needs is people to respect him and his authority as Disciplinary Committee chairman and Namimori protector. Reborn respects it and is stronger than him. Does Hibari want to fight him? Yes. But he is not actually going out of his way to attack him.

Tsuna has a great deal of respect for Hibari, and in turn Hibari does not feel the same hostility to him he does towards Mukuro despite Tsuna being totally able to win against him in a fight. Once again, rip Byakuran.

BUT. HIBARI IS NOT GOING TO STOP GROWING ANYMORE. HE LEARNED HIS LESSON, HE IS NOW ENDLESSLY EVOLVING OR SOME SHIT.

AND

WHAT I AM SAYING IS

HE IS NOT ONLY NOT GOING TO STOP HELPING TSUNA TO BE BETTER BUT HE ALSO IS GOING TO USE TSUNA AS BENCHMARK

NOT AS SOMEONE TO BE LIKE. BUT SOMEONE TO BE BETTER THAN

THE PRIDE AS SYMBOL OF SELF AND AND THE BAND AS SYMBOL OF PRIDE

AND DISCIPLINE BEING THE KEY TO BETTERMENT OF SELF

HE DECLARES TSUNA BOTH HIS FRIEND AND HIS RIVAL THATS WHAT THE BLUE CURTAINS MEAN I REST MY CASE

[henry-atkins-the-3rd-place]

Favourite Artists

This is also part of my Summer homework.

Um... Do YouTube Animators count as Artists? Actually, the fact they’re on YouTube makes no difference to if their work was in a cinema.

As a lover of cartoons, the crazy and the weird, I found my favourite place on the Internet!

NewGrounds!

...

Oh... and, YouTube too, I guess...

Lots of animators don’t get enough credit from YouTube because of their algorithim which basically rewards any one channel that uploads content like a never ending money printer.

It’s a shame because there are amazing animators on the internet who only the fans seem to be supporting. Animators like:

SexuaLobster

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUawWaOXZtk

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_hBoDz_Qp8

This animator has... questionable taste but that’s what i love about him. His absurd ideas on screen is alot better to me than someone who holds back to make only safe videos. Sometimes his videos do come across as inventive like one of his earlier and my favourite animation of his, ‘Central Bwankers’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DdfLtOrBPU

This is a nutshell video about how bankers seem to be working for themselves rather than being fair. Watching it will fill you in.

A similar video is on the channel ‘FlashGitz’ which I will also be showing in this post further down below.

Weebl’s Stuff

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMqIWmFkXvU

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBoLA_BQ4tU

In his first first animation on the channel he described his content as not being random but absurd.

Yes.

Cartoons and songs galore with sketches on the side. This British animator doesn’t stop surprising me with the crazy and dumb stuff they come up with. I can’t give you a theme since it rarely becomes consistent other than the general weirdness that follows his videos wherever he goes.

Vrahno

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NvnHykvjoQ

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDRn0vEJko0&t=37s

I agree. That’s a big jump between a childs attempt at stopanimation with action figures to a multi-layered 3D animation of Godzilla monsters fighting.

This is only part of a much larger scene he’s working on with more monsters in the works which I’m very much looking forward to.

I much prefer 2D animation but 3D animation has a place in my heart when people use it to an effective extent. I even enjoy his twist on the characters from the Godzilla franchise making them have more personality. In fact I can’t remember which Godzilla movie it was but the monsters had voices and spoke to eachother through speechbubbles. I don’t think it carried over into the dub but the communication between the monsters was still there and it passed the occassional nod to each other. Vrahno, however expands on this concept in an amazing way that turns these classic monsters into actual characters!

He does some Bionicle stuff too which isn’t too bad but by nerdiness for Godzilla makes me biased.

Slamacow

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx2pCu5WWL4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsk7uZI4_NI

Yes. He Is a Minecraft animation channel. But i think his animations stand out.

It’s well above the level of the cheap minecraft animation I see in Minecraft Music videos and at the beginning of multiple channels. Believe it or not but Slamacow’s Minecraft animations have Effort!

As an example of why I like Slamacows animation so much I want to do a comparison test. I’m not going to put an image of one of his animations next to a minecraft music video clip or a minecraft intro clip. I’m putting it next to an image from the official Minecraft Story Mode game! tell me which one looks better. Be honest.

Slamacow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGiSgPP-8mc

Minecraft Story Mode:

The point I’m trying to get at is are the mouths. My god, the mouths!

I get that much like in the lego movie, they wanted all the characters to look like exactly how it would work in real life. McSM’s logic is everything must be squares though. It’s not the skins moving but the entire heads of the characters grow extra squares when they exclaim and every mouth movement makes Mr.Game and Watch have smoother frames per second.

Slamacow may have bendier and curved animation but unlike other LEGO digital animation where it did the same thing, Minecraft is a computer game so since it’s clearly seperate from reality, bending seams more natural. LEGO doesn’t bend at all because its rel and more tangeable version is plastic and everybody knows this so bendy LEGO animations look unnatural.

The LEGO movie made sense making sure that everything animated realistically in a way that even the fans will think it makes sense. Minecraft Story Mode animated all of its characters similar to the actual game but took some liberties which is fine. The face is where I draw the line. The LEGO made the 2D printed faces animated which makes sense. The Minecraft Story Mode could have done the same thing but with pixels which is also fine but instead they made cubic caves they call mouths which looks disgusting to me.

I... think I should probably stop ranting and move on.

ThunderHumor

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqNAcRlQ6o

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBg4Km4r5Xk

To be fair, alot of this guys stuff doesn’t have a massive amount of substance except for a special few which lead me to this channel in the first place.

i.e. Minecraft Misadventures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ugwz1nEm_Q

This is a short series currently consisting of 4 episodes. Again, not much substance but of course it’s a strange take on the blocky series none the less.

I’m... starting to see a pattern with the stuff i watch. Hopefully that changes soon.

Robert Benfer

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyyS14eyrn4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GANql36pBSQ

Only one long running series on Roberts channel is the reason I always visit his channel. And it’s ended.

Klay World is a grim, stupid yet somehow loveable show about clay people. And that’s all you need to know.

Have a look. It’s comedy is just slapstick and silly noises with smoothly animated and simple designed clay characters. I’ve seen plenty of videos explaining how a silent or simple designed main character in a videogame makes it easy to identify with. the clay people in Klay World are almost identicle other than the occassional prop or a different coloured clay. This is also similar to how Nostalgia Critic (also YouTube) described Goofy in his video ‘Is Goofy secretly a Badass?’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__b8p02SYPo

The last episode he looks at is a classic episode of a whole stadium of classic Goofy characters yelling, beating each other up and being rowdy adults like how classic Goofy was portrayed as. He described the Goofy clones appearing in the episode as ‘not Goofy’ since each character was designed differently but was of the same species and age as Goofy. This meant they could be as violent as they wanted and couldn’t tarnish the official Goofy character since every person throwing a punch, biting and kicking another was similar but not the same. The same goes with the Klay World characters. Some characters have names but everyone else is violent cannonfodder. There to explode, get sliced or shot by another.

Sr Pelo

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD-VbCWzWto

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igfJIZayiy8

Disclaimer: If you watch any of Sr Pelo’s videos, be prepared since alot of his videos include Ear Rape Screeches, Screams and Manic Laughter! You have been warned.

Sr Pelo... is an odd one. He’s the one friend you might have who might not say much or have much to contribute to a conversation without making stupid/silly noises. This is not a jab at him. I think he’s funny.

He’s over the top to every degree. He does some impressions too (discluding his screaming).

I think his designs are a tad like mine. Cartoony but just underdesigned and simple enough to classify and practically an animated doodle.

Zeurel

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR35EkkB_p4

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5Q9hqH9lI

Her videos are short and I really mean short. As in they range from 0.03-7:23 to my knowledge. Believe me, they’re usually just over a minute or under a minute long.

Each short is expressive but to be honest, I like her work but the length of each upload restricts it. Some of her videos are longer and really show that her longer videos can leave a larger impact than... this...

SUDDENLY...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vwc8W2NTHwI

For example, these are some of my favourites that are much longer.

Drawn Together~: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX0APeh8e1Q

Robo Western HD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ln9XobU6oc

Yes, it’s not a long list but then again there aren’t alot of long animations she’s done or alot of animations on this channel at all.

RageNineteen

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cszgvxuJkM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W7mx9mvXfg

British and hilarious. he rarely animates over Game Grumps or other audio like his latest animation. The rest of his videos are shorts or full-length cartoons and occasionally live sketches of either random or comedic sketches like Monty Python.

There is a particular series of videos he’s done that I can’t help but rewatch. A documentary on different subjects called L.I.A.R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dmIgYEjGh8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDzG2WmrmY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWLOmVLPEJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xhcn8Wn95mA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4PAleIlYbs

Not to mention the Action Bunnies Series which is a bunny version of the ASDF Movies in Tomska’s channel. I have purposefully discluded Tomska from this list because apparently he doesn’t animate his own stuff as mentioned in one of his Blogs when he didn’t pay the original animators of the first ASDF Movie. He still makes great sketches though.

RubberNinja

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgoSRjWWVho

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSpZgKBjwmg

RubberNinja, better known nowadays as “Goddammit Ross” on the super-popular gaming channel family known as Game Grumps used to animate before playing video games, being a sadist to his friends and drawing on the Game Grumps show, Doodle Doods.

Ironically one of my cartoon characters I drew for fun years ago was also called Doodle Dude. not likely I’ll be bringing that back anytime soon.

There’s not alot of animations on his channel. Neither do many of them have a story to tell. It’s mainly just random humour which I like but I prefer the other stuff he’s helped with on Game Grumps and in the music done by the band one of the Game Grumps members is part of ‘Ninja Sex Party’ and the short series of video game songs, ‘StarBomb’.

Piemations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_04xi7ddh8

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX3CY4XQZ5g

Piemations is funny and can clearly write funny sketches with clear punchlines and setups as well as being good at random humor as well.

Alot of his stuff is based off video games and in some cases, movies, so alot of his humor will also be in-jokes about the game and characters which might catch others offguard.

Apart from that he’s a great comedian whose got a clear animating style and a very clear progression in how his animation with virtualy no changes in his designs have gotten better.

As an example he re-animated his first animation that was a half minute joke about the Spy from the popular Valve Steam game, ‘Team Fortress 2′, AKA ‘TF2′.

Original: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX3CY4XQZ5g

Re-animated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaeFLz0Eu6E

PikaPetey Animations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-WFmq9hE9c

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y8DQa9H3Cw

Pika has a short library of animations which are either Pikachu themed or My Little Pony. Some of the videos are for conventions, some are for fun.

Unfortunatley only five videos on this channel are finished and has a any substance or jokes rather:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbthhiFglQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YHA3EwXhFY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmvwOYw4oz0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btOIfDrKn8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVnJq4QXgFA

I really like Pika’s sense of humour but it’s sad to see it spread to thinly like this.

TwistedGrimTV

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfzbCg3sdco

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rrK0xPzpvo

TwistedGrim is Grim. Well, not really all the time. It’s more or less themed grim. Like how years ago there weren’t horror games like we know them that are almost just like the movies. There were Halloween themed games. Normal games with scary aesthetics but not scary gameplay like Alien Isolation does.

It’s funny, still, and reminds me of Zeurels work from earlier. It has a similar artstyle and comedy but devels only a pinky toe into the Grim theme the channels named after.

Actually, not many of the videos on the channel are Grim or even Grim themed at all! The latest videos are Overwatch animations while probably 35-40% of the videos are remotley Grim related.

Pixlpit

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7pGdKTw0mU

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8PI6FWc-1Q

Yet another 3D animator with an original style.

I like to make the correlation between Funko Pop figures and PixlPit’s models that he uses for his animations since they all have almost exactly the same style if it wasn’t for the defining features they are given.

I described the horrendous mouths of the characters in Minecraft Story Mode as “every mouth movement makes Mr.Game and Watch have smoother frames per second.”. Some of the movements in PixlPit’s animation is similar except alot of the movements are smooth at times too. An interesting blend.

I mentioned earlier that PixlPit’s characters are almost all clones of each other other than their defining features and I compared them to Funko Pop figures but I noticed while browsing YouTube that there is an animator who has character designs that look practically identical to Funko Pops figures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B4fMC_71A&t=29s

Seanzoz

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7LZGy5QlvI

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajMzpiyZ4GA

If I recall, the method used in Seanzoz’s animations is basically like stick figures with detailed limbs. Not drawn characters but files containing limb and hand sprites to be moved but connected to other sprites. Like a puppet. This method is albeit, a bit lazy since a prime example I remember it being used in main stream media is Johnny Test on Cartoon Network (and was awful), but the difference here is Seanzoz makes highly detailed sprites for each characters as well as design backgrounds and foregrounds that are also highly detailed.

It’s as if someone got the Mona Lisa (or some other painting that has time and effort put into it) and did the same thing by moving her arms, hands and head on pivots.

The comedy is very much there as well but all the videos he makes is a parody off a TV show or video game.

What’s nice is he makes long videos with well-written comedy in them and a consistent rate of quality. What’s annoying is he isn’t the only one who does this making him not as unique as I’d hoped he would.

The channel ‘How it should have ended’ Makes animations in the exact same fashion as well as the exact same style of comedy as well. as in everything is they do is what Seanzoz does too.

Vivziepop

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGW7aE14m7o

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLqtHTXyPZs

To be frank, I love her drawing style. It looks amazing. No doubt. Annoyingly she doesn’t animate often anymore. She mostly just does speed art now. For others who draw only it might be nice but I prefer seeing someone whose talented enough to take art and make it move naturally without a loss in quality. That takes skill. Vivziepop has animated alot before. As proof she made a music video of Kesha’s ‘Die Young’ and it’s fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PKNuZovuSw

But that’s nothing less to her credit. Her art style is sharp and unique as well as eye catching. The same goes for her animating skills. As unfortunate as it is that she doesn’t animate often, she still knows her stuff.

Screwits

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1stb_ILUa0

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItOPzuIRLVI

9 videos in total. All animations... What a track record...

Screwits art style is very similar to the artstyle you’ll find on NewGrounds.com. The outlines are thick, black lines, they rarely have shading and the comedy varies from random/stupid humour to more teenage humour with swearing and sex jokes.

You know, after describing his animation and NewGrounds animation like this I now realise how much of a lie Screwits’ YouTube logo is. It’s shaded, it has a variation of other colours that pop out and look alike to Vivziepop’s colour pallete. Nothing about it reflects his animation style at all.

I mean. I do like his comedy and animation but it somehow seems... under-developed. Another YouTuber and Animator on NewGrounds is EgoRaptor (who will also appear later on this list) who has developed his skills amazingly to the point that you can see that even his art style changes between cartoons. but I’ll be talking more about that later.

Tithinian

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXDzmhl-7bM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOzJWZNI97U

Tithinian has an odd method of animating that... there is no animating sometimes. Well... what I mean is that sometimes there are fluent moments where things move and of course mouths move smoothly as well but sometimes for those slower moments he has an image of what the character would look like and not change from that until the character emotes again. The transition between those frames would be instant but the character would always bounce a little by being stretched before looking normal again. I’ve seen alot on animators on YouTube do this. Especially for the Game Grumps animated videos which Tithinian also falls into the catergory of for the most part.

Don’t see what I mean? Here’s an example.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIEkjsCZ7jU

Pay very close attention to all the characters and keep in mind how I described them. You’ll see what I mean. It’s only Semi-Animated.

But despite that, I think it’s always interesting to watch all of his videos just for the designs he gives all the characters. Especially when the characters yell, scream or get angry. It’s like just letting me or him do what they will with a notepad and pen which usually leads to these expressive, exaggerated and mostly crude drawings of the characters. It’s a whole gallery!

Pegbarians

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4P88lLxYxQ

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMEn1OfEGo4

Pegbarians is... an odd channel to describe. They make animations but they seem... boringish... Let me explain.

When I think of main stream animations, I think of Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks and their sensible and believable worlds. I use ‘sensible’ in the most broadest of terms. Despite how they’ve made worlds of talking cars, singing cats and adventures of ogres and donkeys, they have a consistent and realistic atmosphere. Nothing is just random and nothing happens to take away from a current moment of drama.

When I think about the Internets animation from animators outside of the main stream, I list all the different animators that also appear on this list. They’re crazy, insane, creative and literally anything could happen!

However, there is a third place to look. Advertising.

I’m talking about 3D models of low rendering,

High quality 3D animation

and 2D animation commonly found on the internet as well.

This kind of animation is too similar to what Pegbarians do which makes them feel more... manufactured than creative.

I enjoy their content but the plan style with a lack of outlines or expressive imagery just makes it look like what’s actually meant to be an animation that advertisers would want their brand represented by rather than another animator or another comedy sketch writer who can freely speak their mind even if it includes swears. Like they designed themselves to be semi-enjoyable for the public and just safe enough for ad revenue to be at its best.

Moleman

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdupAtbg6Es

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqU7qktIruc

It’s odd why there was such a change in art style and medium in a span of only 10 videos but they’re all good videos.

There’s the 3D model videos that either look like digital muppets or have mouths like sock puppets, and there’s simple 2D animation.

I have no complaints. Although the majority of her videos are just game grumps animations, they still prove to be funny, intresting in design and even gets across her unique style that I look at and immediatley know as, Moleman’s.

MattyBurrito MB

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8amyRgcL80

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q3QtKShCQI

This is a yes and no kind of channel. His comedy is great, his animation and art style are great as well but somehow I can’t shake the feeling that he could be doing better... wait... I know what it is now!

Most of the time there’s a lack in movement other than the odd moment. Oh My God. He’s Tithinian! Just less expressive and absurd with his drawings.

Yup. That pretty much sums him up. He needs to add more animation than he already is or make his art style more interesting. I... feel like I’m making unessecary demands.

NotePaddle

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIPDlJRZwEY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9UPwSrYVlY

Now this is what I’m talking about! Cartoony visuals with expressive designs, bright colours and proper comedy to boot even though it’s mostly slapstick and silent other than the odd speech bubble!

it’s what I love about cartoons to begin with. The ability to take anything in existance and give it a remarkable twist to shift anything about it like its character and design as well as invent something entirely new! Animation and drawing as well as all mediums of art is meant as an escapism from reality. That fact alone is why I hate soap operas on TV or in animation. Real life can be sad and depressing which is the entire reason we turn to the screen or pages of a book. Having that new world reflect that sadness and depression back at us is redundent unless it offers us something more to think about or look at.

NotePaddle hits the nail right on the head for me.

Joe

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDijRDj_8BY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2APuxubWSmE

Ukino Joe (or Joe as he calls himself now) is exactly what I described as what I think animation on the internet is like by nature. Random, weird and creative as well as expressive.

Joe has a show right now in collaboration with Danielle Kogan called ’Great the show’.

There’s no pattern or rhyme or reason to his content. It’s meant to be random and strange but strangley tame at the same time. It usually shifts from art style to art style every so often while still adhering to the customary ‘Joe’ style.

Im not even a Panda

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BH3VJ25waJM

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ezJzVl4V4

Another Game Grumps animation channel. As much as I enjoy the Game Grumps and their comedy, I think YouTube may be a little oversaturated with the GGAnimators. I’m fine with alot of them because they sometimes take the audio and change the entire situation of it from its original recording. Like this one. The audio came from their gameplay of Resident Evil but they changed the context in the animation to take place in ‘The Legend of Zelda: WindWaker’:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3B4fMC_71A&t=64s

Surprisingly this is the same animation I described as having the near law suit design to Funko Pop’s figures.

There are other GGAnimators who just put a fun spin on their animation that makes it even more fun to look at than just animating 2 people in a living room in front of a TV with a games controller in their hands.

InEaP’s animations are a little underwhelming but still get a somewhat good animation across. So they’re neither creative or expressive unfortunatley. It’s sort of an iconic design since the majority of their animations use a thin brush tool on the outline but then again that’s not very defining in the grand scheme of things.

Martina McKenzie

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=561zkbseprY

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rjjlFzrCME

The early stuff she’s done isn’t very interesting but the later stuff (more specifically the Undertale animations) are greatly animated, written and pop out like a cartoon you’d expect would be designed. With bright colours and thick black lines. I’ve already gone over this diatribe so I’ll be moving on.

Forrestfire101

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbOYPQ1So_c&t=64s

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JbauUAjuSA

This was the first animation channel I watched and enjoyed about... 12 years ago probably. He has been doing LEGO animation for a long time now and I say he’s practically innovative. While other channel have simple LEGO animation with barely any natural movements, FF101 was green screening bricks to make minifigures jump and fly instead of hanging them from string or using translucent LEGO stick pieces. That and he draws mouths moving on each frame using... probably MS paint. Primetive but effective. In fact I think there was an entire video dedicated to it on his second channel, ForrestFire1001.

...

Okay. Apparently it doesn’t exist anymore or I just can’t find it. I specifically remember he showed off his bendy tripod thing in it. However I did find this short SFX breakdown video he made which is just as useful in this context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqztgE50sz8

Hot Diggedy Demon

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w2cFhiobko

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSagkXsX8YA

Max’s videos have a clear theme. Crude humour with hints of self-actualisation and realisation of the depressing and inevitable end of our lives as well as not turning its head from the existance of the blemishes on the face of humanity. And it’s hilarious.

He knows how to be satirical. He knows how to create a scenario that would seem cruel or sad but he knows most of all how to make fun of it. He’s wacky and cartoony with the edge that will take you off guard. Sometimes even impulsive but definitely reminds you that the world and our lives can or will be shit awful but it enlightens everyone to enjoy it anyway despite that grueling fact.

He’s surprisingly good at translating his designs from 2D to 3D as well.

As I’m also a drawing coneseiur who prefers drawing by hand, I’ve tried myself to translate my drawing style to 3D. It’s, NOT, easy. But somehow Max pulled it off in his recent series, Brain Dump. A surprisingly intelligent but equally as immature as you’d expect from his humour as he analysis movies, TV and other... stuff.

Eddsworld

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxtRL1tclds

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdNRqOMaH68

Starting on NewGrounds and even made a short for the BBC Comedy channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eahA3dB-eqQ

This is all I think of when I think about British cartoons now because of how much it reflects Britain throgh its classic slapstick, writing and cultural references.

God rest his soul when the original animator, Edd Gould, died of Cancer. He was even half way animating part 1 of a 2 parter animation before he died. So I suppose he died how he lived. Doing what he loved. Animating.

In his name, his friends continued his legacy by finishing his work and ending the series before handing the rights back over to Edds family. It couldn’t have been done without the help from the fans who supported them.

This is pretty much the most interesting animator on the internet to me because of its story. In Edds life and in Edds wacky world he put so much effort into.

aMAX Animations

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIasEKIH2XI

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11jy0LfIpiI

I could swear that all of his animations are made in MS Paint.

Alot of his stuff is either Game Grumps or Vinesauce animated content. What’s different is that even though his drawings are realistic and relate to the story at hand, it still has a charm to it. He adds the necessary details and adds unecessary details that really brings together the scene brilliantly! Some great examples was the reflection of Joels childhood friend gone sociopath in his eyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9kDJyk5H_I

The snow storm foreground at a bus stop in Sweden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8wYdg7mKtc&t=553s

And the flashing of red and white from the computer screen lighting up the diml classroom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7lBwWayhVE

It’s fantastic and somehow he did it in probably MS Paint. By far the best animator in terms of setting the scene.

Don’t hug me .I’m scared

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbL-NSkXnl8

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIKKYv_3Ic

Okay. This channel isn’t exclusivley animation. Instead it’s... actually, I’m not sure.

It has some animation in both stopmotion and 3D but it’s mostly puppets and disturbing imagery. Not really something to go into though without preparation.

It’s a twist on the Muppets and Sesame Street and gives a brilliant commentary on TV productions capatilising off childrens programs and what-not. Definitley something to look into but personally I prefer the Film Theory channels take on it.

Harry Partridge

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krRFlzwnw3U

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0cZY7ef_mk

Who here remembers the old Disney movies.

Aristocats

Cinderella

Beauty and the Beast

The Fox and the Hound

Lady and the Tramp

The cartoony yet realistic hand drawn movies. The main stream classic stuff.

Harry Partridge is the Internet version. How amazing is that?! His animation is the most amazing quality I’ve ever seen on YouTube since it looks just like something Disney could do but in Flash. It’s ridiculous!

Egoraptor

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAioZzuhOQg

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77_4n7CeiHA

Egoraptor is one of those defining animators on YouTube who started on NewGrounds. Over the years he’s evolved over time and along with it his comedy and art style. But especially his art style. A good way to illustrate this is this short fan animation that presents some of his art styles in one shot by morphing Dan on screen between them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8ycDu-mMXg

It’s not long but it makes some sense.

Alan Becker

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhikdD6Hf2M

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxM1cnphLpw

To me this is one of the most impressive channel in terms of technicality. His most famous series ‘Animator Vs.’ features a stick figure gone rogue and the computers user has to combat this combatant collection of lines from destroying his computer using the computer itself and even other stick figures. There are other episodes that don’t feature the user and instead the stick figures finding other programs and websites to play with that still leads to even more trouble. Overall it’s animated amazingly and creativley since it uses everything about the PC that you can think of to the animations advantage.

FlashGitz

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFnFKu9QqoA

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSxQnZ3TM8

FlashGitz is expressive in more than one way. Through their animation they have expressive visuals (of course). But they’re more expressive through their writing. The first video they uploaded was of their view on what GameWorkshop (The company responsible for the Warhammer franchise) are thinking at the board meetings. This video is to ‘express’ how the community felt from their perspective about the excessivly high price of their plastic models which were often given game breaking statistics in the game.

Another video they made expressed what they thought feminists and social rights activists were to them stereotypically thanks to the bad apples ruining the bunch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARMbTEGVDk

The same for being Politically Correct:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0D1PpgCXs

Aaand the unreliability of online information and the boredom of using conventional means of information:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqqQT-CcTsU

Not to mention the console wars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqucCVzP-Og

And many more... Not to mention some random stuff and sketches.

OneyNG

Latest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1RpLoLyi6c

First: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qutm9kaCV8

Much like his first video, this is indeed a random channel. The epitome of silly. He makes structured videos in many cases but somehow still manages to let it slide down the slippery slope of silly without end. It’s odd. It’s perculier. But most of all it’s him.

I agree that him in real life would probably be like watching one of his cartoons. Stupid but funny to the better people of the internet... probably.

I... like him. Don’t judge my standards please.

I feel like in the beginning I wasn’t clear about what my standards are to begin with but I’ve slowly revealed it bit by bit within this post. Let me give you a clear picture then.

What I love about animation, drawing and art in general is the ability to... well, I think Seto Kaiba from the recent Yu*Gi*Oh! movie does it justice.

It’s true. It upsets me when people use it not to create but to make something boring. Usually to point at a real world problem that you just know will depress you. This medium should be used to express yourself, represent something amazing. Indulge in the escapism it allows you and make sure to spend that time wisely to make an imprint that’s unforgettable. However you can do both at the same time. Be creative and depressing.

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

This is a perfect example of an art medium changing the world amazingly through a creative and imaginative story but still sends out a message and a point on how the working class suffer the most as well as the children that connected to the lords and ladies and changed society as they knew it.

However a skeleton in a pile of rubbish and a cardboard box marked ‘Home’ will not... It’s just depressing...

I should also point out what’s most important to me in art. An art style. I didn’t take GCSE Art for a reason. They’d force me to do realistic images and glue stuff to paper and the like. Not my idea of fun in my opinion. I enjoy all these animators because of their unique styles. They bring so much to their viewers through the eyes and minds of their fantastic worlds and how they perseve reality through them in their own wacky ways. And that’s what I love.

P.S. NewGrounds isn’t really my favourite place. It was just a joke. It’s still good but YouTube is easier to use since having flash isn’t a must.

[krakenator]

CHAPTER 19 aka “Time Out”

SPOILERS are sprinkled around extremely liberally for The Property of Hate

Masterpost here

Dude, Hero’s schism got fucked WIDE open my god. Then again, running directly into a storm of Nothing can’t have done anything good for it

Clever girl solves the equation. Immediately sets out to test it despite fears because it is GOOD SCIENCE

But chickens out when source of experiment shows signs of vague consciousness. Fair enough

BUT- turning his dial to TV mode is supposed to knock him the fuck out ENTIRELY. RGB is supposed to JUST be a TV and nothing more. Negative once again out there breaking all the set rules, like the menace he is. Even if its just sleep-talking

Aww- the amour took a real beating, but it did a MARVELOUS job protecting her- the bottom half of her face is pretty much 100% fine! Thank god for turtlenecks

More speechbubbles directly from the mystery man himself! So, Negative’s text is white and his bubbles are rectangular static

And once again… the flower dies once it has fulfilled its purpose

the actual petals are sticking around this time... this is gonna be one heckuva beautiful but incredibly weird ruin people come across. that the Idea and snail will come across

WHY IS the Idea following them, anyway???

Hero you precious bean I would kill and die for you

But YIKES her voice. Don’t do Nothing, kids

Lovin’ these parallels. Both times RGB’s finished being Negative Hero’s had to drag him places, sings, and wears his hat. Last time it was sad, this time its funny

Look at how tall the fence is. LOOK AT IT. I don’t CARE how much we’ve established that RGB is a secret muscle boy, how the FUCK did he throw her 50 feet in the air

I mean its possible the Nothing shifted around the sand bordering the fence so much that sea level dropped a bunch but STILL. HECKUVA YEET

About this door though… was it always here? Did it just... appear for them? It’s also the only one here. Back when first entering, the door RGB used was amongst a bunch of them. Time’s hangout also has a bunch of these doors. 

having said that... hold on. hold the fuck on

its the same goddamn place. we’ve come full circle, baby! and, even MORE evidence-

same doors! 

Oh, OH! New suit!

PAN FLAG PAN FLAG PAN FLAG

WE STAN ONE DISASTER PANSEXUAL ON THIS BLOG

RGB thinks he’s a distinguished pan but we all know the truth

Have I mentioned before loving how Hero’s thoughts are shown as a kids drawing? If so I’ll say it again, because I love it

Something tells me RGB’s gonna reach for the nightmare Hero just threw about willynilly and find it missing at a super unfortunate moment. it’s basically got it’s own panel, this si gonna come back to bite us

Are you ever LATE to anything if you’re literally Time? Asking for a certain white rabbit

Interesting that fire in this story has so far only been a destructive force- the sun’s scorching nature and its association with light, the burning iron to RGB’s face that killed him, how Nothing is reminiscent of a forest fire; and yet here, to burn Hero’s tongue is to restore her voice

TIME’S DESIGN THOUGH

I love how he’s basically three people/perspectives jammed into one body all interacting with each other. It’s bonkers

How he interacts with himself across pages

His speech is black box, echoing white text (so, kinda the inverse of RGB) and I love how clock hands act as tails, joining boxes from one to the other to easier follow the flow of his speech

His domain is apparently outside of the Make Believe? like, in this weird inbetween-

motherfucker

THE CHAPTER TITLE IS “INBETWEEN” GOD DAMNIT

HIS THORAX IS AN HOURGLASS

Time is helping them, giving Hero back some color and draining RGB of some festering emotion. Time heals all wounds

Time’s candle’s are also growing throughout the entire interaction- they begin as uneven stubs on page 364... and finish as full antlers

BUT BACK ON TIME’S HANGOUT BEING INBETWEEN WORLDS- Hate’s hangout is also like this. we enter/exit the Make Believe through these golden doors, Dial ALSO exits the comic by walking through a door. a far more hidden one, but same principle. Makes you wonder if Time also has a method of cutting you out of the story like Hate did to Jules and Melody

Is Time literally telling me that the reason RGB bleeds out of his face is because he is emotionally constipated on a chronic level? That’s amazing. That’s incredibly on brand for RGB

So, honestly, paying for Madras’ wares with pints of color is probably kinda good for him. Let out your feelings a little

BLOODLETTING IS A LEGIT MEDICAL PRACTISE, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS!!!

But back on that joke way back where music lesbians were ragging on RGB about what he tastes like; considering it’s literally an almost incomprehensible mashup of his bottled up emotions, “sharp”, “sour”, and “cheesy” are probably real, literal, and canon

The canonical answer is “awful”

Color restoration, go!

Time’s heating up the colors using one of his candle flames- distilling it? And what’s getting sprinkled in there?

i think the crunched up stuff is the star he pulls down on page 367?

CONFIRMED on next page: the medicine was ‘starlight, feelings, and regret’

So if they had’t run into Time and RGB had woken up, do you think he would have solved Hero’s coloring dilemma the same way? “Here, Hero, come now, drink up. It’s only my blood”

Huh- so acknowledging the contradiction of the fire to heal Hero. And flame is used once again to heat up the sand sprinkled into the drink so it wasn’t frozen

So RGB is never fully dead. Interesting.

eeeey, Hero’s schism has also knitted back together a bit- we’re back to what is, at this point tbh, the usual baseline of schism

Y O we’re gonna see Madras again!! yes!!!! now the question is- is Time just saying “yeah you’ll run into her again soon” or “i personally will expedite things so you run into her soon. its juts a lil time travel”

Hate took/will take Time’s eye? Bruh. At least my exes never poked out my eyes. Are we getting set up for an eye for an eye pun here mod? Are we? Did Time poke out one of Hers first or are we gonna get to see Time come in later to exact equivalent revenge?

alternatively, ‘she’ is Madras. after all, we can’t tell if Time is speaking with with capitalization here, since ‘she’ only appears at the beginning of sentences. either way, it’s looking like we’l be going back (or forward?) to the House of Paint!

this is also a super neat example of using page composition to tell us which Time is speaking, and using the growth state of antlers as another visual cue.

Time is... a hare...... has antlers....... that’s a fucking jackalope

ADDITIONALLY the antlers are candles, which......... JACK O’ LANTERN? REALLY MOD?? I LOVE THIS

She loses WHAT

MOD? HELLO? WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU PLANNING FOR MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER HUH

More exposition on why Hero entering the Make Believe kills her “waking” identity

(dreamy sigh) mod, I know I’ve yelled at you a lot throughout this entire reading but please now it is out of deep, reverent love for the story and worldbuilding because mod, modmad, uncle mod, sarah jolley- you are hitting exactly on all my favorite story setting tropes. Hero’s out of her mind. God. Fuck. I love it. this might be my favorite page

i f uckign- love this panel? reinforcing that Hero’s home is so close, and yet so far- it’s under their feet, but unattainable. she can’t go back, and ‘home’ is looking far more like her thoughts and scribbling than it is a tangile reality. she’s just. in the clouds n-

her head is in the clouds >:(

TIME PLEASE. DON’T BLAME ME FOR HERO’S PREDICAMENT BY STARING OUT AT ME WITH THEM BEADY EYES

Time, snidely: They know who They are

I love the full antlers. how far we’ve come in just like... jesus christ, did all this manage to happen in just 9 PAGES? this has been........ a lot lmao

Dgsafjkghf Time LITERALLY ROCKS HER TO SLEEP that’s amazing

Time wtf the fuck do you mean that’s the same word twi-

...I gotcha

RGB is going to wake up so confused. Where did this weird glass boat thing come from? Why are all the tricks up his sleeve littered all over the floor what the hell. HERO WHY ARE YOU COLORS FADED. WHAT DID YOU DO. Damn, at least I’m in my swankiest suit of all

The moon starts to wane as Time spins it! Neat detail

well that only took forever! we’re caught up to the comic at this point in time- I mean, chapter 20 is like 5 pages underway but I kinda like the format of just doing it all in ONE BIG GO, so I guess we can expect the next one’a these to be when Cut To concludes. that’ll be a while, but hey, good to marinate on stuff for a while

there’s already so much going on in chapter 20 oh god thINGS ARE HAPPENIIIIIING

Next time on TPoH we’re checking in on all those other cool cats of the comic

[krakenator]

CHAPTER 13 aka “Clip-Clop”

SPOILERS are sprinkled around extremely liberally for The Property of Hate

Masterpost here

Hoofers aka dancers hahaha

GIVE US TAP DANCING RGB

Well, RGB DOES  give off static- Assok’s gotten stuck to his screen a few times. Those copper nails… this is a grounding wire thing isn’t it? I don’t know much about electronics but

the defeat. the resignation. absolutely perfect

Aw jeeezzzz im glad Assok’s situation gets addressed. Sure, you can cope with being small with limited communication and mobility when you’re on your own and set yourself a Mission to keep you occupied, but now? going to a place where everything and everyone is bigger than you, the environment is absolutely NOT made with you in mind, and oh yeah, your ability to communicate is still shot to hell? I’m frankly surprised it took Assok this long to have a meltdown

Dsgahdk and with that EVERYONE’S ended up having a temper tantrum while at Cells now. she isn’t paid enough to deal with this nonsense

RGB’s kicking up a lot less fuss over the horseshoes. Does getting nails hammering into his feet hurt less than the iron or is he tired and drama-d out for the day?

Considering I’ve managed to jam stiff wire inch-deep into the meat of my foot before I can say with authority that it HURTS

Fascinating. Assok being described as indelible also confirms past Heroes as true residents of the Make Believe.

!! this answers that question about why RGB can’t actually change his outfit

MECHSUIT ASSOK MECHSUIT ASSOK

I instantly imagine that warning siren as sounding like THIS

PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE TINKER WANTS YOU TO CREDIT CREATORS!

Well hold on; I know rotoscoping is when you trace over film to animate, but i didn’t know there was a machine to do it called a rotoscope

Look at this proud dad!!

If RGB and Tailor engage in Pun Wars, RGB and Tinker engage in Petty Wars

Hero’s gotten her new amour but RGB gives her his jacket as a blanket anyway

RGB YOU AFFECTIONATE MADMAN YOU’RE GONNA HURT YOURSELF AT THIS RATE

That is…another fairy circle. Who wants to bet the chunk of sea that landed in the sea is under there! The suns slowly gonna piece itself back together huh?

Ah- I didn’t realize that when Dial steps through the door, the background is a white-out reflection of the previous page

So you could say that we are now behind the scenes

Check this out: the 3 panel page is the one where the re-lit suns sunk into the and the NEXT PAGE has one panel blacked out- incidentally, the panel where RGB is in the Black Market telling Hero that he doesn’t know if our favorite music lesbians are safe, but he hopes so

SPEAKING OF MUSIC LESBIANS HELLO MY QUEENS

HEY

SO WHEN I SAID DIAL SHOULD GO TO JAIL FOR BAD PUNS THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT

Hate really doesn’t have luck converting Heroes who aren’t Dial huh

“it was YOU who made us BE like this”? “decide what we are”? obviously Hate messed with TOby’s and Tailor’s design, but Hate has a hand in how ALL Heroes appear in this world?? interesting

is Game Over for a Hero when they come face to face with Hate and she snaps her fingers like “congratz you’re an objecthead OC now”

NOOOOOOO

EVEN WORSE- the notations for that second note Melody is a stopped note- that’s for when percussion players stop a cymbal with their hand to cut the sound out

for brass players that means shoving your hand into the bell to act as a mute.

Also both notes played at D’s, the second an octave higher indicating distress- MODMAD YOU GENIUS HOW DARE YOU

We could take this a step further on the analysis train and say that by playing a D she’s trying to call for Dial specifically. D’you think everyone gets a personalized note? Julienne, I’m sure, gets her own lovely motif

 But WOW remember the WHITE is BAD theory? Yowza. Look at this place. Julienne and Melody just got scrapped

Speakin’a, who wants to bet the reason we can’t see Hate’s dialogue is because her text+speechbubble are the same color as the background- white

Okay, and FURTHER in that theory it turns out Negative causes the same black-out effect as the market. He’s made of and/or affiliated with darkness, which is a Good Thing so far in this comic on the same level as trees and the sea… RGB teaching Hero not to be afraid of the dark gets even more significant

Gee Hero, why does modmad let you have TWO dads?

“not like they can drown” alright, so the art wives got yote into the Sea or into the depths where the Ferryman and TOby are now chilling for eternity

Wow a lot is happening in short order, Okay;

Click’s affiliated with Hate and was sent to the Market specifically to take out RGB

It’s confirmed that Dial broadcasts audio to Hate, so what’s to say RGB isn’t broadcasting visuals to Hate as well? It could explain how she’s able to see the same comic we are to track his actions, and fits well with the “going dark once he goes Nega Force”

then again, “the Story” clearly does not stay solely with RGB- it’s wandered off to check in on Madras’ chair, the Idea and snail, and to this

INTERESTINGLY on the Plains blackout- they’re surprised to see it, sure, but surprised like they’ve never seen a weird blackout like it- which is to say, like they’ve never seen a previous instance of Negative activity before

This is definitely meaty evidence for “Negative is an extremely recent development” theory. Like, “split from RGB at the Pool of Tears” recent

YIKES okay, Time is still a touchy subject for Hate

Dial also thinks that Time is chummy with RGB. We’ll have to come back to that when we meet Time in person

And, did Hate just threaten to erase him entirely? RGB and Hero get worn down to the sketch in their upcoming Elastic Valley adventures but Hate was able to do that to Dial just like THAT. White’s associated with erasure, but this implies Hate’s abilities actually directly tie into those phenomena and substances that erode this world

Mark that as another tick for “Hate bullied the sun into implosion”

Now…why does Dial’s speechbox become a perfect rectangle here?

Man, WHY DO dreams make RGB dream about himself dying in famous silent film stunts gone horribly wrong? And he’s so utterly resigned to living all this out until he wakes up that he’s just unfazed and impatient to wake up

This post handily names the films these stunts reference

a film reel runs down the page, which is... hold on

it doesn’t appear in RGB’s first dream, and is around in ABUNDANCE when he’s ambushed on the train. Add on what we’ve got so far of chapter 20, and film reels indicate memories

these stunt deaths aren’t actual memories though. this one probably just heralds the arrival of the real memory coming up shortly...

Considering the white text used here, this could be either Dial, Hate, or someone new entirely

Now this entire page is… yikes. That’s very clearly the jacket colors RGB wore in The Hook. The ONLY color we’ve ever seen in any of his dreams. This is different. His sleeves and the… orangey-yellow pattern. Knives? Is an iron involved in how he “really died”?

That’s not the way you go around picking up irons, and my default reaction to this page is “I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING BUT DON’T PUT THAT ON YOUR FACE”

This… definitely explains WHY RGB made so much more fuss over being ironed that getting freaking nails hammered into his feet

Think. Think, Gill. We recognize the sleeves, it stands to reason there is something to recognize about the orange-yellow-white pattern. Can’t think of anything to do with the shape- go color. Where have we seen orange, this bright, firey-

Fire

Fire, face, burning, scorching, white text being spoken right before POV character reaches out to put the hot iron on his FACE-

RGB is the sun

RGB IS THE SUN?

THIS IS. A LOT

I’LL COME BACK TO THIS WRITHING CAN OF WORMS LATER CAUSE ITS PROBABLY ITS OWN POST, MOVING ON

Omfgfdgd…RGB when he thinks it’s Hero dreaming on him: annoyance. RGB when he realizes it’s a bunch of randos: (YELLING, KICKING)

“its warm today” yeah its almost like 1/5 of a burning celestial body slam dunked itself into the sea to buddy up with a lost piece of itself

The only explanation is that RGB literally stuffs those inside his (HOLLOW??) chest cavity. Now please imagine those things RATTLING AROUND INSIDE HIM as he proceeds to have this upcoming Hell Of A Day

but can we focus back on HOLLOW? HAS RGB BEEN HOLLOW THIS ENTIRE TIME I JUST THOUGHT HE WAS INVISIBLE

In their darkest hour… when all hope is lost… Hero and RGB will be saved… BY ASSOK BURSTING INTO THE SCENE WEILDING A MECH SUIT

He’s in SUCH A GOOD MOOD this morning. And I DIG Tailors cape like holy cow. I want one

Yo so I just assumed on my last read that Cell attached Hero’s fingers to her own hands for Extra Dexterity, but actually, she’s molded the color/substance into balls and stuck those on the ends of black lines to make needles. Those black lines are almost definitely the outline of Hero’s fingers. And so, Cell is using Hero’s fingers to knit the [-----]… something tells me indelibility is whats allowing Cell to knit the [----] without harm to herself. Now all we have to wonder is what the final product will be

next time on TPoH, RGB and Hero exit the Market in a calm and orderly fashion

[krakenator]

CHAPTER 9 aka “Let’s go lesbians!”

SPOILERS are sprinkled around extremely liberally for The Property of Hate

Masterpost here

Melody and Julienne join The Party! A singer, a dancer, and an actor make a triple threat baby!

Though the true triple threats out there are the people who can do all those things. I would put myself as an example but said Real Threats are people who can do it all well

…y’know we haven’t seen RGB dance but… it would not surprise me. My god. That’s why he’s so strong. He dances

Maybe the real triple threat was the object-heads we met along the way

Still on that opening page though, have I talked enough yet about Melody’s dialogue? Because a glissando is an excellent way to convey and agreeable hum.

Wow parents really were right that tv would rot my brain look at this poor doggo

Yo yo yo that’s the snail from the Pool of Tears in chapter 2!

So all I need to do to get Inspired is to lick a technicolor dream-snail, got it

Oh damn it, it’s a bright idea

Ey the picture frame clouds are back. Wow they are moving fast- heckuva wind

Oh yeah and TOby’s there. Enjoy the view lil buddy

Looks like the armchair Hero slept in at the House of Paint’s become more realized as a What. Wonder why it’s heading down to/past the Pool of Tears

How often do you think someone in this world goes to, like, hang their coat only to realize the coat-racks missing and just go “oh damnit it went sentient and wandered off. Well. Inconvenient. But godspeed I guess”

So I know the ball and chain Hero’s fashioned for her TV guide (FUCKIN JUST REALIZED THAT ONE) is rolled like like a yarn ball, but my boat-brain looked and it and said “monkeyfist. Big ol’ monkeyfirst for swinging around. Throw RGB REAL far”

How is modmad so good at speechbubbles. RGB’s shaken text/box is hilarious. Melody’s notes are connected by a beam, she’s beaming

rekted for the 11th time in 4 days

This is a good opportunity to take a moment for me to appreciate modmad’s HANDS. RGB’s hands are always exquisitely drawn. Like, the third panel especially, goddamn. Second appreciation is how damn expressive RGB is. I gushed about my love for the wives designs last chapter, I guess it’s finally time for RGB’s turn

For having NO ACTUAL FACE the man is supremely easy to read as a character. He doesn’t have eyes, yet you know when he’s smiling for real anyway! Looking back at the first few pages, that’s SUCH a fakey-fakers smile to the genuine ones seen throughout the rest of the comic. Combined with his body language- just fantastic

And then! The drooling! The initial reason I wanted to do a more thorough reread was when I realized the colors correspond to emotions and whatever RGB is feeling most strongly in any given moment, those are the colors he drips. Which is! Fantastic! It gives yet another avenue by which to see RGB’s character and an excellent supplement when the man is, again, emoting with NOT-A-FACE

His antenna crack me up. They start the comic so straight. So ironed out and spiffy and like 3 days into his newest Hero they are chronically crinkled up like tissue paper. It gives him this impression of being completely frazzled at all times, which. accurate

Back to your daily scheduled TPoH though; eeey, Assok’s speech-texture has some black triangles in here for copying Julienne’s words!

Yikes. RGB’s tried to take Heroes back before huh. Considering he hasn’t given up on his “save this doomed world” plan after all this time, how absolutely/repeatedly disastrous was “get my friend back home” for him to concede it as impossible??

Aaaand we’re off to the races Market!

RGB: LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO!!

BIG DAMN SMOOCH! YES!! LOVELY! Also Julienne’s resting the blunt side of her knife on Melody’s head and I’m die

Melody’s dialogue is the symbol for a “natural” note. She’s replying “naturally, duh” to RGB’s question

If Julienne wasn’t already married to Melody I’d seduce that big instrument lady myself

Accept the compliment Assok! You did good!!

Random thought and back to RGB being stealth STRONK- Hero found the [—–] to be heavier than it looks and yet RGB is walking around with it all tied to one foot completely unimpeded

Im fucking snorting. The way RGB says “…that’s the sea.” Like he can’t believe Hero is being this dumb. If course it’s the sea! Obviously!

NO RGB, NOT OBVIOUSLY

D’you think if RGB saw how water and seas behave in our world he’s be equally bewildered as I was the first time I read this page

So I took the time to look up Julienne’s name and now im BIG MAD. Julienne is a way of cutting things into long thin strips! It’s a fucking culinary pun!!

Y-yo… that’s just a big damn eye.

AND/OR an impact crater. Except the ground they’re standing on wouldn’t be flat if that were the case

But it is also DEFINITELY a fairy ring, as the next page describes this is EXACTLY how fairy rings work

K so this entire page is just that one verse from “Cover is Not the Book”

Bruh. This looks like myelin sheaths on nerve axons. Myelin is an insulator just like [—–] is described to be! Except the metaphor ends there because myelin is supposed to be there and protects the axon/accelerates signal speed. Assok is basically chewing nodes of ranvier into existence instead of the breaks between myelin forming naturally. And that’s my degree put to use for the week

Also HEY. I had the thought earlier that the sick tree might be a Yggdrasil thing but didn’t put said thought down cause there wasn’t a whole lot behind it save for “big tree, big big tree”. But NOW it turns out there was a small SERPENTINE creature CHEWING AT ITS ROOTS

ASSOK’S THE NIDHOGGR

Everyone: RGB smart?? as if. RGB: EXCUSE-

absolutely huge mood there buddy

HEY MODMAD. TURN ON YOUR LOCATION WE GOTTA TALK ABOUT PAGE 162 FORESHADOWING HOW RGB BELIEVES THE SUCCESSFUL HERO’S JOURNEY HAS TO END

Hero is the flower that will die even though she’s saved the World >:(

“all flowers must die to complete their purpose” is also a funny phrase to be throwing around when Negative’s presence sprouts blue roses which shatter apart when he leaves

“Flowers need roots to live”, further implicating Negative as the (ha ha) root cause of the blue roses and vines. and we again see here, the flowers die but the branches they bloomed from remain

ALSO consider the flowers seen around characters heads when they dream/are asleep- those flowers also must go away when people wake up

Taking this a step further, Negative can be further associated with RGB’s subconscious/being unconscious by his flower-spawning

Lesbians Fight TV-Dad for Custody of Daughter

It’s “make fun of RGB hour” on TPoH and im living. Sharp, sour, cheesy poop indeed

Gotta remember to contrast this against when Hero actually drinks his colors later

gotta remember that this is 4 PEOPLE THAT RGB HAS FUCKED OVER BANDING TOGETHER TO GIVE HIM SHIT. LIKE, HE’S KIDNAPPED THEM ALL, HE CAN’T COMPLAIN

Under the sea, under the seeea~

Uh oh. UH OH THAT’S A SCISSOR BLADE

UH OH

Melody shouted in sforzando but it’s already too late ;_;

Oh! And the notation on top- that tells you to use a mute. God dammit

I knew this was coming and yet I am devastated anyway. goodbye my sweet wives your time was too short. Please come back one day

It’s also notable that Hate cut them out right at the border before the third and final protection on the Market begins. We know later that the darkness blots them entirely out of Hate’s view, so if they’d made it just a bit further She wouldn’t have been able to capture them like she just has

D’you think RGB knows exactly what’s happened to them?

If bodies of water are another form of Good Protection, then Fears hanging around the Pool of Tears is doubly weird

Yikes tho good thing Hero hopped off, can you imagine if Hero had gotten snipped away alongside her moms?? Terrible

Jeebs are you telling me that Hero would have eventually started to fade if she’d carried that pile of [—–] long enough?! RGB! BAD DAD! GET ‘IM HERO

Then again, this means he was probably planning to carry it himself most of the way. He has certain advantages after all- he overgenerates color for himself. It’s probably why he lasts as long in the storm of Nothing as he does…

Oh no OH NOOOOO ASSOK HEARD MELODY’S SHOUT

Is that-? Could it be-? By jove, it is. RGB IS INITIATING AFFECTION AND COMFORT EVERYONE! YEEEEEEAH, MAKE UP FOR THAT BAD-DAD BEHAVIOR!

HEY NOW WAIT THE FUCK A MINUTE THERE- BUTTERFLY SHADOW

HEY. Her schism’s opening back up! Nothing on page 166, but once Julienne and Melody are gone in page 167 we see it starting to open back up

!! RGB OFFERS HER HIS HAND? HIS PHYSICAL, ACTUAL HAND?? HELLO????

And the third return of “just this once” is killing me dude

Poor Assok get scronch

Girl what makes you think TOBY and JULIENNE trust RGB?! Additionally, why are you including Dial on the list?! Is he just That Charming?

IN FACT,  every single person Hero just listed? RGB has personally ruined their life! he’s killed ALL of them! HERO I UNDERSTAND YOU’RE 6 BUT

Hero trusts Dial oh no. this can only result in bad things

Butterfly, flying off in defeat: goddamn fucking idealistic children making it hard for me to steal them away and end their story, come on! Dump the chump and let me end you!!!!

Back on that schism though- it opened up once they started fighting at the sun tree, and just now when the wives disappeared. I would say it’s ripped open by experiencing fear, but it definitely was not open when Hero saw Neggy Boi wrecking shop

Join me in the next chapter when our intrepid duo speedrun Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It’s Dark Outside!